The day is getting shorter, the weather is getting colder and my cold is lingering. Yeah, it's a good time to go home. I go back to Sacramento and start looking for a place in Reno for December.
The monsoon season is supposed to be over long ago here in the Southwest. But the storm last night was worse than the monsoon storm. The wind was, at least. My tent almost collapsed by the gale from the west. It didn't help that I collapsed the rain fly on the west side and put the space blanket over it to block out the cold wind. Little did I know the storm was coming with much stronger wind. The forecast called for a few hours of rain over night, so I didn't think much of it. The collapsed rain fly, and the tarp over it, effectively served as a sail that almost launched the tent. Luckily the tent stood but the west wall got soaking wet -- collapsed rain fly means no roof to keep the rain water off the wall. I sleep on that side and my sleeping bag also got soaked. I slept well though, at least after I gave up and resigned to that there is nothing I could do till the morning when the rain and wind stops. The sleeping bag was wet, but the electric blanket kept me warm enough. Without it, It could've been a wet, cold and super miserable night.
I'll still have to wait till the sun come up and things dry up before packing out. Looks like that won't happen till tomorrow. Which means I'll have to endure 18F weather tonight. The wind will die down this evening, so I'll be fine if I stay inside my electric blanket till the sun comes and and the air warms up. Then I'll be off the the long march to Sacramento. Not sure yet if I'll stop at Death Valley or go directly to Sacramento. I still prefer to go back via Sierra, but I may get snowed in there like Donner Party. So I may forego Death Valley and Sierra and take SoCal route. We'll see.
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